- French Nov producer prices +0.4%m/m, from +0.5% m/m in Oct
- Italy Wage inflation index unchanged m/m in November, +1.5% y/y from +1.7% in October. Lowest rate since Oct 2010
- UK Nov Net Mortgage Lending at a record low of +0.317bln vs +0.825 bln in Oct, Service sector output -0.7% m/m unchanged from Sep, largest m/m drop for 8 months
- Italian Dec sa Consumer Confidence falls to 91.6 from 96.1 in Nov, lowest since series began in 1995, following the latest austerity budget
- SNB: Will enforce Franc ceiling at 1.20 vs euro
lacklustre doesn’t even describe it…
EUR/USD opened around 1.3080 after the Asian markets attempted to take the Euro back through 1.3100.
We,ve slipped back to 1.3062 this morning in painfully slow trade and most of the data releases have been generally euro negative, but with liquidity being drained rapidly and dealers heading off early , it’s failed to break out of a 1.3062-92 range.
Much the same in GBP/USD but soft BBA data, particularly the Oct service output , kept cable weak in the session in a 1.5663-08 range, with 10 yr gilt yields hitting fresh record lows below 2%. EUR/GBP hitched a lift on the data to 0.8345 from earlier lows of 0.8324.
USD/JPY was a total non -event in a 78.01-08 range, and EUR/JPY’s been sitting around 102.00 all morning.
AUD/USD wasn’t far behind in excitement either , trading 1.0148-73
EUR/CHF pushed up following the SNB’s quarterly bulletin to 1.2242 from 1.2211, on the back of pledges from the central bank to maintain the peg at any time .
Gold’s losing it’s shine with a drop from 1613 to 1605, and WTI Crude Oil couldn’t hold above $100, easing to $99.54
Most European bourses were showing gains of around 1% with the exception of the DAX which was up around 0.3%
All in all a struggle to stay awake and it’s not boding well for the NY session either..
I’ll be heading off at 1300GMT so it just leaves me to wish you all a very happy Xmas and best wishes for 2012. Gerry and I will be back on Wednesday.